ISTANBUL European Capital of Culture  2010

From 7 Rumeli to  7 Anatolia  
Theatral Performance and Solo Art Exhibition
Presented by H.Cigdem YORGANCIOGLU
Between September 23 - October 23, 2006, Istanbul

Reporter: EFTALYA with seven words ,7 days of a week  7 hats of Cigdem Yorgancioglu  on 7 hills of Istanbul with seven notes (Constantinople)  means ?

H.«i_dem Yorganc1o_lu

The splendid city _stanbul deserving a  passionate adoration from the 7 th fold bottom of our heart, constructed amidst 7 seven hills namely  1. the Seraglio, The Topkapi palace the Hippodrome; the Saint Sophia 2. the Column of Constantine and the Mosque Nuri-Osmaniye ; 3. the Seraskereate Tower and the Mosque of Sultan Suleyman; 4. the Mosque of Sultan Mehmet  II , the Conqueror (Fatih) ; 5. the Mosque of Sultan Selim; 6. Tekfur Saray  ,Edirnekap1 ; 7. Capa ,Cerrahpasa ,the quarter of Samatya (Kocamustafapasa) ,Davutpasa . Each of notes dedicated for one of the hill in Istanbul

Reminding the saying of Napeleon   if the world was a single country ,its capital would have been Istanbul." ,7 reminds us  the  7  seven-member European Union jury including members of European Parliament and the EU Commission and Council working 7 days of a week  nominated Istanbul as the European Capital of Culture  ...The fabulous Istanbul is a candidate to be chosen as the European Cultural Capital (ECC) in 2010,

Alphonse de Lamartine  s one of famous poem quoted was  revealing his love for poetic Istanbul,in which  embracing two continents, with one arm reaching out to Asia and the other to Europe in his Voyage en Orient.  "If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul." Lamartine's famous poetic

Reporter: What is human being for Cigdem ?

H. Cigdem Yorganc1oglu: Human being is half  fish and half   bird  crossing over the continents either from the sea or above the clouds

Reporter: What do you mean ?

H. Cigdem Yorganc1oglu: This is hidden in one of my name in which refers to migrate .  hicran  

Reporter Where to migrate and how ?  

H. Cigdem Yorgancioglu: Here is the comparative reply  as per the question .  

From Rumeli to Anatolia- Crossed over Boshorus

H. Cigdem Yorgancioglu (EFTALYA)  born in Istanbul in 20 th century, created her anagrams as inspired from Leonardo da Vinci. From Rumeli to Anatolia  She  crossed over Bosphorus with her fishing wings  in 1987 .

From Rumeli  to Anatolia  passed over the Bosporus and landed in the slopes of ‹sk¸dar on the Anatolian side.

Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi lived in the 17th century in Istanbul during the reign of Murat 4 , Ottoman Empire, is one of the first aviators to have succeeded in flying with a pair of self-made artificial wings. Suposingly he has  been inspired by and used the studies of Leonardo da Vinci on the flight of birds. He started flying from the Galata Tower, and managed to fly over the Bosporus and finaly landed on Dogancilar  of Uskudar .

How you relate your name with Istanbul ?

My name is Cigdem The crocus, colchium in Latin is the second symbol of Istanbul after tulips  with shining yellow colours found only in Omerli and Tasdelen of istanbul .Namely The  Istanbul crocus  (Crocus olivieri subsp. istanbulensis). The Kadikoy  Bitter Crocus  (Colchicum chalcedonicum), that is blooming  in September, also made Istanbul its home.

Reporter: Why 7  ?

H. Cigdem Yorganc1oglu:   

We are at 7 th floor of  Arcade at Rumeli street at the  city positioned on 7 hills on the historical penisula , at North Anatolian fault line glorious  Istanbul out of  7 region of  marvellous Turkey. The  cultural capital of Turkey deserving to be the worldcapital soon Hopefully in 2010 .The trafic code of Istanbul is 34 .3 plus 4 makes 7 .  The only metropolis within  the world that  is situated on 2 continents stands on a triangular peninsula between Europe and Asia. The unique  city in the world that truly bridges Europe and Asia.  The Bosphorus strait, between 2 continents and extending  both on the European (Thrace)  "RUMELI" and on the Asian (Anatolia)  ANADOLU  side of the Bosphorus, which is sometimes denoted as EUROASIA  . The number SEVEN means the one who loves .Simply lover .The lover is the symbolically refering the love of 2 continents at _stanbul.  

Many cities are claimed to be constructed amidst seven hills like Rome . But here we are in Istanbul . The modern Turkish name Istanbul  comes from the Greek words /phrase  meaning "in the city" or "to the city"and Through a series of speech permutations over a span of centuries, this name became Istanbul. All of Cigdem s exhibitions based on Greek mythologies so there are numbers of myths and love stoeries hidden in this exhibition in which the two contients fall in love each other . The number of notes in the musical scale  are 7  and each are on on hills of Istanbul and the letters o  "EFTALYA" on each heels as well . The number of main islands of mythological Atlantis    is   7  and The number of objects in the solar system visible to the naked eye  - the Sun, the Moon and the five classical naked eye planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.

September was the 7  seventh month in the ancient Roman calendar, as its name indicates. Sept means 7  hepta-/hept- (from Greek)  septua- (from Latin) . The Heptad, say the followers of Pythagoras," was so called form the Greek verb sebo," to venerate (and from the Hebrew Shbo, seven, or satisfied, abundance), being Septos, Holy," divine," and motherless," and a Virgin. After the reform that led to the current order, the 7 th (seventh ) month is July which is the month Cigdem was born .  In Astrology, Libra is the 7th astrological sign of the Zodiac.and this solo Exhibition and thetral presenattion scheduled accordingly

All the paintings here made by fingers so the magical hands are one of the main refernce as well . The hand simply makes 7 motions; up and down, to the right and left, before and behind, and circular.

Human being that looks for the 7 generations back though never whitnessed the 1st generation .I was born in a city with 7 hills in 7th month and wobndering around the world in 7 climates . The Odysseus stayed with  water nymphe  Calypso  7years  and One of Cigdem s solo exhibition was  Calypso  .There are 7 stars in ursa major (Callisto ) and  One of Cigdem s solo exhibition was  Callisto the other were again inspired from Callisto and adapted to _stanbul  Callista  

There are 7colors on the   rainbow well as in the white so as the Cigdem canvas . The number of heavens in Islamic tradition and The number of Earths in Islamic tradition is 7 as well.

Gazing at the cord of fabulous Bosphorus  with the  pearllike teeths of lights, inspiration was unavoidable . I was born in Istanbul in the 7th month  and  2 of my wisdom teeth has been removed .This remind me the following , after Birth, the 7th hour decides if  the newborn child shall survive or not and  the cord falls off in 7 days . The 2nd set of  teeth of a child erupted in 7 years later .

The number of the Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony,  Sloth,varice, Lust ,Envy, Wrath,  and Pride AND EACH OF THE H_LLS OF Istanbul free from those sins

Reporter: Why  _stanbul ?

Certainly It s not a momentary decision.Being a daughter of eternal father ,and having ancestors from  Istanbul for 7 generation  and . Borning in a picturesque city where the continent meets and kiss each other and having genetic and sentimental connections ,how shall I order my tonque to keep its silence .

Actually the history of  archaic Istanbul is as old as 300 thousands of years and maybe you are familiar about the records which are  proving that even  earlier  Neolithic Age and Calcolitic ages . Byzantium is founded by Greek colonists from Megara,in BC 7th century . Actually, Megara  s founded a number of important colonies near the entrance to the Black Sea. including  Chalcedon  The Country of blinds  and Byzantium, the future Constantinope during the 7th Century. _n  660 BC .Since it was a tradition to get consultancy  before the move from The oracle of Delphi  Istanbul has been selected by the directions  and consultancy of oracle at Delphi  as well . Megara was the daughter of Creon of Thebes who married Hercules .

Reporter: What is Bosphorus for you ?

It s beyond a nice view from the Universiy I graduated from ._t is kind of a land ready to trigger ones to jump over  Starit from Rumeli to Anatolia from the fortresses that was signed by Fatih(his special signature )  

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